Ultrasound Unwrapped: A Week-by-Week Pregnancy Image Guide

By Sandra M. Minck, RDMS

Your obstetric ultrasound...one of the most anxiously awaited events in your pregnancy between the positive test and delivery! The shifting clouds of gray on the monitor leave expectant parents baffled and filled with a desire to understand more—what is seen, what it means, and is it normal? And parents-to-be worry about enough without compounding the confusion with misinformation.

 

Ultrasound Unwrapped: A Week-by-Week Pregnancy Image Guide by certified sonographer Sandra M. Minck, RDMS dispels the myths and walks you through an ultrasound image journey of a twin pregnancy and a never-before published exploration into gender development. You will learn:

 

•  Ultrasound's role in your pregnancy, safety, and misconceptions
•  Baby's weekly First Trimester transformation
•  Weekly pregnancy changes we expect to see and which are most important
•  When and what to expect from your own First Trimester sonogram
•  How to differentiate gender in the Second and Third Trimesters

 

The gallery of more than 150 images will entertain and enlighten your way to a better understanding of ultrasound imaging, and most importantly, how ultrasound is utilized as a vehicle to a healthier mom and baby. Ultrasound Unwrapped will be a favorite addition to your treasure trove of parenting and pregnancy guides.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Parta Arts
• Release date: May 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638219361

Book preview

Part One ~

Unpacking the Facts

Chapter 1

Unwrapping Ultrasound

You're pregnant! What a thrilling time in your life and that of your family. If this is your first experience with pregnancy, a whole new world is opening to you, and you want to learn as much as you can about this new life inside you. Whether this is your first or fifth pregnancy, each is a new universe in and of itself.

After 25 years in the practice of obstetrical ultrasound, it seems that as many perplexities about ultrasound still exist today for expectant parents as when I began in the field. However, most everyone with access to modern medicine is familiar in some way with a fetal sonogram. It has become one of the most anticipated events of a pregnancy. In fact, most people do not consider their ultrasound the medical examination it really is, but instead, an exciting event that allows all branches of the family tree to meet the new addition.

In my years of performing literally tens of thousands of ultrasound examinations, the early pregnancy scan can truly be one of the happiest and most fulfilling experiences for both patient and operator, but also the most heart-wrenching. I always felt overwhelmed with emotion when I could show an overjoyed couple the first flutters of their baby’s heartbeat. If they cried, I had to choke back the tears, too. As a healthcare provider, I always felt so very honored to witness such a special moment in the lives of others.

When all was good, it was very good. Holding hands. Tears of happiness. I would hear them quietly (or exuberantly) congratulate one another with I love you! or cheers of We did it! This became my most favorite experience of all over the years.The occasion was especially sweet for those patients who had tried for a baby for so long, either undergoing tiresome fertility treatments or otherwise suffering traumatic recurrent pregnancy losses. Both scenarios create such anxiety, but success is so beautiful! I even thought to myself on occasion how sentimental it was for these people, wishing I could vanish for a while so they could savor the moment together. Yet, I was the one holding the probe. So, instead, I would simply give them a minute to relish the elation and on I’d go, happily narrating the big show on the monitor. It’s about the only time, I believe, that a patient doesn’t mind the endovaginal examination.

When all was not good, I was reminded of the important roles of ultrasound and sonographer. What it meant to a heart-broken parent. To witness and experience the first news of loss with a couple. To guide them through a very difficult, emotional, and sometimes traumatic examination. Unfortunately, a sonogram is not always the celebratory event to which many equate it.

Even though ultrasound is generally considered a fun and exciting event because it allows visibility of the unborn child, to count little fingers and look for gender, the technology is foremost a very important diagnostic tool for the obstetrician or other healthcare professional. These examinations assist in managing the mother’s pregnancy, health, and Baby’s health. During your amazing belly transformation, you might find yourself swimming in a foreign sea of obstetrics and technology. And there is absolutely no shortage of material on the subject, is there? It’s enough to make a new parent’s head swim with what to read first.

I’ll take the opportunity here, as I’ve expressed in my blog, to reinforce that I am not a physician, nor do I act as one in this book. I am not providing medical advice but, instead, simply sharing knowledge I’ve gained in the field and extending the same general information to you that I have shared with past patients or blog and social media followers. I do not overstep the boundaries of my title. It is essential to understand that the information presented here may not be representative of your pregnancy or experience. Any concerns regarding your ultrasound examination or prenatal health should be directed to your healthcare professional.

No matter what people look like on the outside, we are all the same on the inside…including our growing, unborn babies. We all start out the same way! The goal of this first chapter is to address the questions I was asked most often and to help you better understand the use of ultrasound, its purpose and limitations, and the curious role of sonographer. Let’s dive right in!

1.1 A Little Ultrasound History

Many patients over the years have asked when ultrasound started and you might be surprised just how far back it dates. You may already know it is used for other parts of the body, beginning in the 1930s. However, the application to obstetrics for the care of mother and baby is credited to a U.K. obstetrician, Dr. Ian Donald, for his work in Glasgow, Scotland in the late 1950s. In 1958, he co-authored a medical article which published the very first images of a fetus [1]. Of course, vast improvements in the technology developed over the ensuing years with better and better visualization of fetal and maternal organs until it became the integral tool it is today.

Ultrasound has become a vital instrument for obstetricians and other providers caring for you, the patient. It plays an imperative role in the management of mother and fetus and, in the most knowledgeable hands, remains a tool which can diagnose volumes of pregnancy-related problems and fetal malformations. The information we can obtain with sonography has saved the lives of mothers and babies by removing some of the guesswork for the clinician. This is especially true for the patient who presents with a particular history, such as ectopic pregnancy, or abnormal symptoms such as pain or bleeding in early pregnancy.

When ultrasound sheds light on a potentially life-threatening or life-limiting abnormality, it enables your doctor to more safely and effectively manage your pregnancy and delivery. Moreover, these discoveries enable your caregiver to provide the timely education you and your family may need to prepare for Baby’s arrival. This was the goal of ultrasound’s founding